ESX Server 3.0.1, Patch ESX-1002083; vpxa Upgrade Failure; Update to Allow Snapshot with RDM Disks Attached; Other VMware-hostd-esx.rpm Updates

Symptoms

The following symptoms might be seen in systems without this patch:

• vpxa upgrade might fail in the following scenarios on ESX Server hosts that do not have /tmp/vmware-root directory:

• While adding a host for first time in VirtualCenter
• While upgrading VirtualCenter, which will trigger all the added hosts to go through vpxa upgrade

The vpxa upgrade failure occurs when /tmp/vmware-root does not exist on the ESX Server host because it gets deleted by tmpwatch utility after 10 days.

• Taking a snapshot with snapshot option enabled for RDM virtual machines fails with an error message similar to the following:
  Error: virtual machine is configured to use a device that prevents the snapshot operation : Device '' is a raw disk, which is not supported.
• Taking a backup of RDM virtual machines using VMware Consolidated Backup fails with an error message similar to the following:
  Error: virtual machine is configured to use a device that prevents the snapshot operation: Device '' is a raw disk, which is not supported.

• The backup failure issue using vcbResAll might happen in the following scenario:

1. Back up a virtual machine on console operating system by using vcbSnapAll.
2. Restore the backup by using the command vcbResAll with the –b prompt option as follows:

# vcbResAll -h hostname -u username -p password -s /backuproot/ -b prompt

Note: The default option for vcbResAll is –b prompt. So vcbResAll, when used without –b option leads to the same issue.

The restore fails but the following message is displayed instead of an error message:

Per VM log files will be in /var/log/vmware/vcbResAll-11271.
Wed Jan 31 00:03:27 IST 2007: Importing VM [vm_name]...

Extraneous entries similar to the following appear in vm_name-running.log, filling up the space in var/log/vmware directory.

How do you want to proceed?
0) Abort Restore
1) Keep Existing
2) Replace Existing

Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:
Please choose a number [0-2]:

Deployment Considerations

• You must also install patch ESX-1002085 to complete the fixes addressed by this patch. Patches ESX-1002085 and ESX-1002083 can be installed in any order.
• A restart of the host agent is required after applying this patch. If this does not happen automatically, restart the host agent by "service mgmt-vmware restart"
• The fix for taking snapshots on virtual machines with Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks attached will work properly only with VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.2 U1. With this patch, VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) 1.0.2 and VCB 1.0.3 can now be used to take snapshots on virtual machines with pass-through RDM disks attached.

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

1. Download patch ESX-1002083 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html .
2. Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.
3. Create a local depot directory.

   # mkdir -p /var/updates

   Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

4. Change your working directory to /var/updates.

   # cd /var/updates

5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
6. Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

   # md5sum ESX-1002083.tgz

   The md5 checksum output should match the following:

   d993cfd94ba99daadbf4dd45ca3675c6 ESX-1002083.tgz

7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

   # tar -xvzf ESX-1002083.tgz

8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1002083:

   # cd ESX-1002083

Installation Instructions

After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1002083 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1002083 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1002083 update

For more information how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf .